TWERPS

With over 400 up and coming bands set to play in 35 Brighton venues for The Great Escape Festival, we thought it was definitely worth spotlighting the Aussie acts. Incredible artists are flying in from all over the world, and these amazing Aussie bands are no exception. Click through to find out who you should be checking out...

The weekend is almost upon us once more and we bring you just a selection of shows around the country that we're keen to be checking out. From Groovin' the Moo sideshows to some exciting headline shows we've been waiting for for some time, there's plenty to be getting amongst. So, without further ado...

Between wowing audiences with high energy live performances to winning highly respected awards all over the world, there’s no doubt Australians are making a big impact on the music industry. We've done another installment of Aussies Abroad, showing you the next bunch of artists to tour internationally:

Twerps have a hectic year of touring ahead of them, if their current list of tours is anything to go by. Now confirmed to be touring both the US and the UK and Europe from March through into June, the Melbourne band have found a pocket of time in May to fit in an Australian run of shows! Celebrating the release of their album Range Anxiety, the band will perform at select venues in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane before darting back overseas where they've been continuing to dominate on the live stage and draw acclaim for their new music.

For many bands around the world, earning a spot on The Great Escape Festival in the UK means a great deal - you've got a huge load of exposure, the potential to discover new bands and of course, the opportunity to be discovered. In its 10th year in 2015, the Brighton-based festival releases a stellar line up of bands from around the globe, all set to descend on the site in May for what is touted as Europe's leading festival for new music.

This year we headed backstage at Sugar Mountain Festival to capture some of the performers from the day. Ian Laidlaw set up his studio and got straight to shooting throughout the day. Enjoy them exclusively on the AU, starting with the one and only Dan Deacon, above:

The boutique festival Sugar Mountain returned to Melbourne yesterday following a year off in 2014, moving to its new home of the Victorian College of the Arts for a day of music, arts and great times. Rebecca Houlden brings us photos from the epic day:

Primavera Sound has, for another year, got us wanting to pack our bags for a Spanish getaway this May! For its 15th year, the epic music festival will be bringing together the likes of The Strokes, Patti Smith, The Black Keys, Sleater-Kinney and more to celebrate in Barcelona. While a lot of the bands featured on this year's Primavera line up you'll note as having visited Australia over the past 12 months or are perhaps set to come out this way, the calibre of bands on this bad boy is just ridiculous good.

After an incredible year of new Australian music in 2014, we have an incredible array of records in the pipeline for the new year. Some are from bands who we've been waiting to hear from again for years... some for the first time... others are continuously pumping out incredible music and we have no desire for them to stop! In no particular order, here are the fifteen Australian albums (some confirmed, some still to be...) that we can't wait for (or at the very least are hoping for...) in 2015:

Melbourne band Twerps have recently dropped their second single from the forthcoming Range Anxiety album, "I Don't Mind". Earning Pitchfork's seal of approval overnight, being named a 'Best New Track', it's no surprise that the acclaim for the song and the reach it's now had on the internet has grown exponentially in its short time online. It's a simple song in its arrangement, but it definitely grows on the listener; between Marty Frawley's dry vocals and the eventual feature of Julia McFarlane in the song's final moments, "I Don't Mind" culminates in what's a great taster of what we can be expecting from Twerps and their new album.